


24 Hours: The Room

by little_shinra



Series: Post Vitri/Rescue AU [1]
Category: DRAMAtical Murder (Visual Novel), DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Clear is more metioned than actually there, Dissociation, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Past Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sly is an ass a really scapegoating ass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-03
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-08-12 17:58:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7943923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_shinra/pseuds/little_shinra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The blob have finally found Aoba. Now they scatter to get out of the country and meet in Germany with Noiz. Koujaku and Clear wait for the plane with Aoba at a hotel. The first twenty four hours of freedom are a confusing and tentative one for Aoba to process.</p>
            </blockquote>





	24 Hours: The Room

**Author's Note:**

  * For [artemisgrace](https://archiveofourown.org/users/artemisgrace/gifts).



> This is artemisgrace‘s gift for the tumblr DMMD fanfic exchange. I had initially intended to write something fluffy (for once) with Aoba and the boyfriends, but I wasn't satisfied with what was coming out, so I did my next best: ANGST. Hope you enjoy!

Months. It took them  _months_. Every hour with every minute thoughts falling back on 'Where's Aoba? Is he safe? Where did he go? Find him, quickly', regardless of what they were doing just seconds before. They hoped, they prayed, he wasn't dead or taken by Toue. Because without him, taking out the other man was much harder and for a while, they believed he was the target. Until they found out he wasn't. Toue told them only their names and vague clues to where they were; the latter ending up a dead loose end.

Finally, they found him. They were ecstatic. They were ready to bust right in and take Aoba home, to hell with patience they have waited long enough. The hopes they had in the beginning were true; Toue didn't take him, Virus and Trip did, and yes, he was alive. But alive was that he was breathing. Alive wasn't finding him as they last saw him. Alive was neither living and unscathed by his captivity. Aoba was rebellious to them. As they took him outside, for his first time in months, Aoba wasn't throwing himself into the arms of his saviors. He was terrified of them.

Koujaku and Clear were the first to see him. After the shock and hurt of what they found faded enough—nowhere near enough—they worried. How are they going to tell the others? Tell Tae? Mizuki and Haga? How were they to tell everybody that Aoba was alive, but not well and he'll never be well? How can they even find the words when words themselves couldn't describe anything?

—

"Aoba."

The blue-haired man was asleep on something firm, draped with cloth over his shoulders. Somebody shook him.

_What did they do to me now?_

Aoba felt himself reach for awakening, then stopped.

_...I don't care._  Aoba slipped back to sleep.

"Aoba."

_Get up!_

Aoba straightened to attention before his mind could clear itself, racing along with his heart. In the haze, Koujaku knelt in front of him.

"You awake?"

Aoba shook his head to hasten his clarity and brought fingers to his temple. Ren shifted on his lap. Aoba looked at what was wrapped around him: a lab coat, obviously too big, the sleeves rolled up to his wrists. He looked over to Clear in the front seat, the latter's coat missing.

This wasn't the room. This is...a car.

Aoba eyed at the driver. Dark hair, not blonde. A breath he held in released with relief. Last time he was in a car, he was...

Koujaku leaned into his view.

"We're at the hotel now. When we get up to the room, would you like to shower, or eat?"

Both ideas sounded appetizing. He fidgeted with excitement, his heart swelling with joy. He was starving and the last time he was bathed... Aoba wound and unwound his fingers around Ren's furry body. Before he could answer in fervor, a stern warning snapped in his brain.

_Don't expect kindness, it's a lie_

_Do not misbehave_

_You will be punished if you do_

Aoba abstained, pulling Ren a little closer in his arms. What sounded so appealing—his first bath and meal without 'them'—became a source of worry and his brain started laying out all the things that have happened, that could happened and it scared him that he was never truly away all along he was still trapped back in that room that horrid place...

"Aoba?" Koujaku carefully put a hand on the other's shoulder, pulling Aoba back to the present conversation. Ren, as best he could, nuzzled against his owner's shaky hands. "If it'll help you feel better, you're not obligated to do these. And we won't be in the bathroom when you bathe. We could keep guard at the door if you want."

He wanted to remove what skin that had been touched, had been violated, had been branded. And his stomach gave no patience. It audibly made itself known what it wanted.

Koujaku chuckled at the sound. "Would having some food first be good?"

Aoba shook his head, face down.

"Ba...bath..." he mumbled as he struggled to form the words, "I want... a bath."

Koujaku smiled and helped him out the car. "Sure, we'll do that."

When the door was opened to their room, Aoba felt both at awe and a wave of nausea flooding him. It was the kind of highly decorated room that spoke of high class. It was spacious, with red carpeting, and white walls. The decorations looked metaphorically like money, lots of money. His body stiffened with a new anxiety that even breathing, something would be ruined and he would be punished for it and...

Aoba clutched Ren and huddled close to Koujaku, using the larger man's back to block the sight. The other offered his hand for Aoba to take and led him straight to the bathroom. It was spacious as well, albeit smaller, and bright, but did little to take the edge out.

"I told that kid not to go so overboard with the rooms, but he says 'just get another room if you didn't like it'. Like the tab doesn't matter," Koujaku spoke out loud to himself as he pulled toiletries off the shelves and set them next to the tub. "I'll get your clothes for you."

Aoba stared at the tub as he left and sat down beside it, hand gingerly sliding across the smooth edge.

"Would you like a bath, Aoba? We should get the water started so it'd be at optimum temperature," Ren stated. Aoba removed his hand.

"No. I..." What was to be better? The shower or the tub? Which was the less memory and more the means to start peeling away the state that he had been molded into? "I want a shower... instead."

"Do you want me to show you how it works?"

"N-no...I'm fine."

As soon as he finished, Koujaku returned with a folded bundle. He inquired further if Aoba needed anything more. 

Aoba wanted very much not to be left alone. As if from the very air vents, high and small in the ceiling, his captors will crawl out and take him back to their lair. Ren circled in his lap and pawed his hands, pulling him back again. 

_So silly, no one couldn't possibly fit._

At the same time, Aoba didn't want Koujaku to see him. Yes, he wanted to know that he could be held and saved from those nightmares. Ones that waited to pounce him from every shadow, every corner, every turn of his back. But the thought of his own best friend seeing him like that, bare and exposed... He didn't want to have to explain every mark and dip on his bones, have to see the inevitable expression of pain, shame, shock and despair. The unspoken questions that surely be unanswered and hung over them.

Koujaku excused himself, assuring he will be in the next room, leaving the two of them alone.

_"I forget just how enamored this guy is for you."_

Sly's voice formed into his mind's ears. Aoba took Ren and buried his face in the allmate's fur.

"He doesn't expect anything from me. He doesn't expect anything from me," Aoba recited quietly to himself.

"You are safe, Aoba," Ren assured, "No one here will harm you. I am here."

Sly snorted at the vow with derision. Ren visibly frowned.

Once Aoba stepped into the empty tub, abandoning Clear's coat on the rack, and spent minutes debating open curtain or closed curtain (he went with closed), he sort of wished he  _had_  Ren show him what to do. But he was already here and he felt embarrassed to climb back out and ask after setting Ren to standby.

Amongst the different knobs, the center looked to be for the water and he turned it. Icy water sprayed out first, startling him that he almost leapt right out. Turning it more to the left, the water warmed. Good enough.

Aoba readied himself and stepped back, feeling the full force of water over him. An involuntary shiver shook his body. With careful fingers, Aoba rinsed his hair out, running them through by muscle memory alone. The familiar sensation it brought to his scalp somehow stirred Sly back over, quiet and observing. Almost waiting.

_This is okay. Nothing's wrong. Nothing's happening._  Aoba reminded himself, taking a netted scrub ball off a wall hook and lathering it with soap.

He ran the scrub over his arm, thinking back the events of what happened.

The room was dark again. His vision was obscured, as what normally happened when they went away, and anchored him to stay with the allmates. The allmates went away, and then Koujaku and the one wearing the gas mask showed up. Clear was his name? Names have become fuzzy after a while. And it was just impossible, he saw Koujaku die once. Someone he thought was dead was suddenly there, saying he'll take him home. Impossible. But now he was here...away...

_If that's the case..._

Something inside him snapped. In seconds he was running the netted ball over every inch of his body, abrading the skin to get rid the invading touches, the memories, the violations that choked him.

_It's still there, the skin they touched._  Aoba quickened the motions.  _I don't need it. It's not me anymore. I need to take it off, go back to normal.... Normal..._

His fervor leapt out of him when a hand grabbed his wrist.

_"Aoba, stop,"_  Sly spoke firmly.  _"You're hurting us."_

"Wha...?" Aoba looked down. His own hand gripped his wrist; around it, red skin flared beneath the sheen of soap dripping with the water. His arms, legs, stomach, red with irritation. "Ah..."

Gaining control back of his limbs, he dropped the scrub and turned the shower dial back to the right. Chilling water sent his body into goose flesh as he held the limbs out, resisting every urge to scratch the itchy skin. His head throbbed against the tension.

He could feel Sly lean on him, in a way akin to the other resting his chin on his shoulder and bringing his weight against his back.

_I'll be okay. I just need to..._

_...need to..._

_"We need to finish up."_

Aoba reeled, then quickly nodded, moving the water back to warm and hastily cleaned his hair. He wanted out of this tub now. It felt like it was shrinking on him, holding the water and filling it to his legs. Switching off the water, Aoba shook his head, shaking loose the water and the thoughts with them. His hand hovered at the curtain.

"Sly?"

Sly mumbled a reply.

"Can you help me? When we leave, can you help me? ...I'm scared of leaving... going outside. Can you make me sleep through it again? Like those times before?"

_"...Sure."_

"Thank you."

The air outside the curtain pierced through the steam, cooling the water on his skin. Aoba bundled himself dry in a fluffy towel left by the sink, looking over to where Ren was. The little allmate was resting on top of the folded bundle, eyes closed in standby mode. Aoba knelt down and watched him. Nostalgia, relief, and a sense of wistfulness formed in his chest. He held his hand over Ren and petted the dog's synthetic fur.

_I missed you...so much. I'm so glad you're okay._

The last time they saw each other, he remembered feeling rejected, that something was happening to Ren and he didn't know what to do. Aoba lifted Ren up, pulling the clothes out from under him before setting him down.

The clothes were softer to the touch than he remembered and he smelled them. Freshly laundered. Aoba unfolded them and by piece put them on. It felt so strange, to be in clothes not designated to pick him apart or to be in ones of his own self, his own home. The textile rubbing made the raw skin flare and he fidgeted and pulled to make them set right.

Too long indeed.

Aoba wiped the steam off the mirror and stood back to assess himself.

He looked so terrible in these clothes, his sunken face and flat hair reflecting back at him. Aoba ran his hands over his head, pulling two locks of hair forward over his chest. Skinny hands to bony fingers. He wished he had gloves to hide them.

And it was all on him. If only he had held on, fought harder-

A wave of nausea erupted in him. Pain stabbed through his head. Bad memories pulsed with it. He pushed the heels of his hands onto his forehead.  _What was that day?_  Poking in that blackened space pushed him back. _Why can't I remember that day?_  He knew he was at Platinum Jail, he went there to stop Toue, but the details...

_And Ren was..._

Sly intervened.

_"Means nothing. It doesn't matter. Ignore the past. It doesn't matter."_

Aoba lowered to his knees, pressing his forehead against the cool hard edge of the sink. His fingers tingled and his vision became spotty.  _This slipping feeling..._

"I feel sick, Sly."

With that, he slid down to the floor, gasping and hugging his arms on his stomach to dissuade the need to vomit building in his throat. He squeezed his eyes shut when he could feel the floor under him tilting and caving. Something crawled in his throat and he slapped a hand over his mouth.

_Don't throw up don't throw up you know what happens when you do_

A small sob rumbled out.

"Aoba."

Aoba cringed at the sound of his name. He felt small paws nudge his shoulder.

"Are you alright? Do you want me to get Koujaku?"

"No," Aoba whimpered distantly, breathing deeply through his mouth. Ren circled back and forth in trepidation, concern rolling off his furry body. Seeing no change of improvement, Ren started away.

A hand reached and pined the allmate down, pushing an undignified sound out of him.

"He said..." Sly craned his head back, boring his gold eyes at Ren. "No."

Sly dragged Ren across the floor, holding him so they were face to face.

"Do what you're told,  _mutt_ ," He spat the last word. Ren kept a disproving stare to match the other's condescending eyes, buried fury fanning between them. Their age old battle-turned-staring-contest went on till a knock on the bathroom door tore Sly's attention away.

"Aoba? Ren?" Koujaku. "Is everything alright?"

Sly looked back to Ren, silently challenging him to say it. Ren held his gaze.

"...Yes. Everything is under control."

"Is it alright if I come in?"

Sly made a smile that Ren knew too well.

"Don't-"

"Yes," He crooned to Koujaku. "Come in."

Sly pulled Ren into a tight embrace. The allmate squirmed as the door opened. Koujaku looked around before his eyes met them at the floor.

"Why are you on the floor?"

"Chillin'," Sly chirped.

Ren wiggled out from Sly's arms and made way to the clothes rack, where Clear's coat lay abandoned. Ren took a hem in his mouth and pulled to bring focus away from Sly. Gravity sent it crumbling in a heap on top of him.

Koujaku gave a hearty laugh, almost dragging it out.

"Ren," Koujaku spoke between snickering as he crossed the room. "What're you doing?"

He pulled the coat off, casually folding it and draping it over his arm. Sly sat upright with arms crossed and face pulled in a pout.

"What's with that face? Anyway, Clear's made you something to eat," Koujaku held a hand for Sly to take. Sly just stared back, incredulous. "What is it?"

"I can get up myself, that's what's it."

Koujaku pulled back, lips pressed in a frown. Before he continued, Sly cut him off.

"I'll meet you there. Just give me and  _Ren_  a moment."

Koujaku looked at the allmate, baffled and silently asking for an explanation for the younger's behavior. Getting an averted gaze and no answer, Koujaku sighed, defeated.

"Alright."

When alone again, Ren leveled with Sly.

"Where's Aoba?"

Sly made a smug sound. "He wanted to sleep, so I'm letting him sleep."

"Do not cause trouble for hi-"

" _I_  will do what  _I want_ , mutt. Besides, it's not like  _you people_  can help him anyway," He lowered his voice. " _You weren't there_."

Ren recoiled, speechless. Sly left him there, victorious smile on his lips, eyes pensive with pain.

—

Sly was the one that came out. Sly was the 'Aoba' that ate. He only made a small dent in the rice gruel and sandwich Clear made for him. The other men worried of how long it has been since Aoba last ate-he's so thin and light–and what would be safe to give him for his sanity and potentially frail stomach. Seeing it barely touched didn't elevate the worry, but seeing no adverse reaction post-consumption allowed them to breathe a little easier.

—

Compared to before, 'Aoba' refused to be led. He pulled away at any sign of being touched, snipping he wasn't a child and could get to places without babysitters hovering over him. Yet he never walked ahead of Koujaku and Clear, keeping himself within a barrier of them and a vigilant eye the instant they were outside and in the car.

Ren squeezed out the small bag 'Aoba' carried him in and stayed on Clear's lap, putting up with the fur ruffling and cuddles the entire ride while Sly occupied with the window.

It was finally here, the promised day Sly had always swore he would bring. Aoba was finally away from those wretched people and their allmates and their sick and twisted games. Aoba can finally sleep, alone, in his own bed. No sweets or five star food shoved down his throat and forced back up. No balancing acts that always played and always ended with falling in his failure.

... No more iron boxes.

Sly noted Aoba's sleeping presence, calm and breathing in the back of his head. He didn't realize that while his eyes were glued to the outside world, he was digging holes into the bag with his nails.

**Author's Note:**

> I had to cut the writing off at the end because this thing just kept /growing/, agh! And oh my god, I'm so happy to be done. I was so scared of missing my deadline that I was working a storm while balancing stacks of college reading assignments. Writing on the first half of the week is officially a bad idea.
> 
> For clarification on Aoba seeing Koujaku die once, there is a 'haunted house' draft on my computer and one of the things the Vitri did was drug Aoba with high volumes of Benadryl and send him on a fun filled adventure through a makeshift horror house. I read that taking high doses of that medicine caused incredibly vivid hallucinations and saw one story that someone even witnessed a hallucination of their best friend committing suicide while under the influence. So that ended up in that draft and is what Aoba is remembering. And Vitri decided to be asses and let him believe it actually happened.
> 
> UPDATE: The cut ending is now up! Go over to 24 Hours: The Plane to finish the story. :)  
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/9067624


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